Hewitt sets up Federer semi-final

Hewitt reached his fourth semi-final of the year

Lleyton Hewitt beat Carlos Moya in straight sets to set up a semi-final clash with top seed Roger Federer at the Cincinnati Masters.

Hewitt produced a commanding performance to see off his Spanish opponent 6-2 6-4.

Federer was not in such good form, struggling to a 6-3 3-6 6-2 win over another Spaniard, Nicolas Almagro.

Nikolay Davydenko and James Blake will meet in the second semi-final after both men won on Friday.

Fifth seed Davydenko eased past 16th seed David Ferrer 6-2 6-4, and ninth seed Blake battled to a 5-7 6-4 6-4 win over fellow American Sam Querrey.

World number 19 Moya had beaten Serbian fourth seed Novak Djokovic on his way to the last eight.

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But he made too many mistakes against former world number one Hewitt, who was delighted with his form.

"I am playing well at the moment," Hewitt said. "I thought my court coverage was exceptional.

"But it's hard to close him out, he's such a strong player, so I was really happy to win in straight sets."

Federer dropped his first set of the week but remains on target for the 50th tournament win of his career.

The Swiss has won his previous 10 meetings with Hewitt, including a straight-sets victory last week in Montreal.

"I don't think the nine in a row mattered much before last week because we hadn't played for about two years," said Federer.

"In two years a lot of things happen. It's good I played him last week so I've got an idea of how he plays."